Veterans Day has its roots in a proclamation issued by President Woodrow Wilson in November 1919, a year after World War I ended, designating Nov. 11 as Armistice Day. States soon started declaring Nov. 11 a legal holiday. Congress made it a federal holiday in 1938, dedicated to the cause of world peace. In ’54, Armistice Day became Veterans Day and the focus became honoring U.S. veterans of all wars.
In the COVID-19 era, however, the Veterans Day holiday means no crowded parades and few ceremonies.
Virginia
President Donald Trump participates in a wreath laying ceremony on Veterans Day at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va
(Patrick Semansky/Associated Press)
Hollywood
Levi Tinker, theater operations manager at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theatre, adds a salute to Humphrey Bogart’s square. Bogart was a Navy veteran.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Pennsylvania
Flags mark the graves of veterans at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Mount Lebanon, Pa.
(Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
Massachusetts
In advance of Veterans Day in Quincy, Mass., a field of flags honors those who served.
(Charles Krupa / Associated Press)
Washington, D.C.
A group of soldiers run past the Lincoln Memorial on Veterans Day in Washington.
(Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
A man visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on Wednesday, finding where his brother’s name is engraved.
(Samuel Corum / Getty Images)
New York
A Navy and Marine Corps honor guard joins in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Eternal Light Flagstaff memorial in Madison Square Park in New York. The ceremony preceded a quiet 100-vehicle Veterans Day Parade, with no spectators, to maintain a 101-year tradition.
(Mark Lennihan / Associated Press)